GOLF  BALL  RECYCLING in aid of R N L I  Lifeboats:
• The Shop at the Lifeboat Station, Harbour Hill, Seahouses.
• The Resource Centre, 62 Main Street, Seahouses.
All contributors and purchasers welcome!

SEAHOUSES  INVASION
EARLY  MAY  BANK  HOLIDAY  CROWDS

Monday the sixth of May started off with a mainly overcast sky shedding raindrops so rarely that nothing, and nobody, got wet.  Afternoon sunshine was more in keeping with the holiday atmosphere.  Folk arrived from all quarters to fill the main carpark and its overflow section by mid-morning.

Visitors could then turn right to the shops, cafés and restaurants or turn left to find the open-air Food and Craft Market in the grounds of The Bunker.  Another few steps would then, after coffees perhaps, bring them to the Miniature Golf for some not-too-serious exercise or displays of skill.

But of course the totally unique and most widely known facility at Seahouses is the range of tour boats providing mini-voyages to the Farne Islands and micro-cruises to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.  The village does boast two cash machines, so we hope visitors spent lots of money with us too!

But hundreds (literally!) of walkers visited the Lifeboat Station merely to be registered at Checkpoint One of the Northumberland Coastal Challenge Walk, described as "a stunning 26 mile challenge walk down the Northumberland Coast".  Having been bussed from Alnmouth to Waren Mill they were returning to base on foot, enjoying the enviable countryside and beaches around Seahouses in the process.

ADDITIONAL  BENCH  SEAT

A new seat has been added to the Annstead beach facilities south of Seahouses village.  Located against the Northumberland Wildlife Trust's Annstead Dunes Nature Reserve, the nearest off-road entrance gate is between Annstead Farm and the Link House.

SUMMER  VISITORS  ARRIVE

The last few days of April provided the annual demonstration that it is impossible to photograph our earliest avian visitors while they explore their summer environment.  But the white flash of a house martin and the characteristic shape of swallows were captured with an ordinary camera, more by luck than judgement, just before May arrived.

Having sorted out the wet parts of the harbour, the 23rd of April saw the dry parts being treated to allow users a smoother ride.

Paddling with a rock-laden JCB is no easy task, even at low-water times.  Construction of a harbour is not a once-and-for-all process: following on after a dredging operation to remove silt accumulations, minor adjustments were carried out in Seahouses harbour by redeploying some of the rocks.

Progress
Report
8th April.

As forecast, kittiwakes returned to cliffs bordering part of Seahouses golf course, ignoring the bitter north wind in the first week of April.  More than passing tourists, they take up residence for months of nest building, courtship, pregnancy, incubation and rearing.

This was among the litter items washed up on Braidcarr beach just south of the harbour recently.  It looks as though it may be a rudder.  At twenty inches long and just a foot maximum width it's a little on the small side to explain Danio's difficulties.  So if anyone else has a use for it please email me at the address on the Contact page.

The next day its twin was found round the corner, closer to the harbour.  So let me know if you've lost two rudders.

Folk seem to be realising that when it comes to life on the ocean wave two hulls provide a more stable base and a more comfortable ride than does one.  Bigger and better "SERENE" joined the tour-boat fleet in Seahouses harbour early in March alongside "MARA  MHOR" and "SERENITY II".  (And when they're beached for maintenance catamarans don't tip over!)

Unfortunately the eighth of March was not the kind of day for enjoying a trip to Holy Island or around the Farne Islands.  An easterly near-gale showed its strength in battering waves against protective rocks and breakwaters, generating foam that was carried ashore - and up to cliff-tops in places.

There's a unique opportunity for some entrepreneur (or some charitable donor) to take over the erstwhile "Harbour Inn", so centrally located in Seahouses immediately next to the Main Street / King Street roundabout.  The combination of a versatile building with its own frontage area, car park and garden provides facilities for both commercial and social activities, under community or private enterprise auspices or some inspired combination of the two.

A selling agent has been appointed but I have not been able to find details on their website.  Nor do emails seem to be very effective.  The best plan might be to contact the present owners in the Links Hotel next door (as listed in our trades directory.) - and avoid agency fees?

HELP! We need someone to safeguard the future of our Village Post Office. There's an opportunity for some entrepreneur to join our community as an important contributor to both the commercial and the social life of the village. 10/12 King Street, Seahouses is for sale, as a whole or with house and Post Office separately. Details are here.